# National Laboratories **Domain:** United States science infrastructure **Doc Type:** Developed Institution Node **Maturity:** Developed **Collection:** [[collections/War With Empire|War With Empire]] ## Definition The **United States national laboratories** are a federally supported network of research institutions, principally overseen by the Department of Energy, that maintain large scientific facilities and capabilities in energy, national security, computing, materials, and basic science. ## Significance They are durable arena-building institutions: places where instruments, models, test facilities, classified and open research, and long time horizons can be assembled beyond the capacity of most individual organizations. Their roles differ by laboratory and program; the network should not be treated as a single command actor. ## Routes [[wiki/Arena-Building Capacity|Arena-Building Capacity]] · [[wiki/Research Infrastructure|Research Infrastructure]] · [[wiki/Digital Engineering Strategy|Digital Engineering Strategy]] · [[wiki/Pax Silica|Pax Silica]] ## Sources - [[articles/gamification/America Loves Games and the Home Court Advantage|America Loves Games and the Home Court Advantage]] - [U.S. Department of Energy, National Laboratories](https://www.energy.gov/national-laboratories)